Mediocre Monday: Peter Popovic, Jim Kyte, Enrico Ciccone

The late 80’s, early 90’s were arguably a rough time for hockey. After Gretzky took off for Los Angeles it seemed everything went slightly down hill. Although the league was trying to expand it’s talent pool, they let in some dandys. On Mediocre Monday, we take a look at some of those!

Popovic was a Swedish defenceman who was drafted in the 5th round of the 1988 Draft to Montreal. After playing 5 seasons in Sweden, he made his NHL debut in the 1993-94 season. For the next 5 years, he played in 485 games with the teams I stated above and accumulated a dimal 73 point. 73 POINTS IN 485 GAMES. At 6’5 he did cover a lot of ground though and did his job in front of the crease. He’s currently an Assistant Coach with the Swedish Men’s National Team.

Big Jim Kyte started his junior career out with my hometown Cornwall Royals and actually didn’t fair out too badly. His stats though are a little more depressive then Popovic’s. Kyte played in 598 games and tallied 66 points. Although he’s ranked here for being mediocre, you have to commend the guy. Kyte holds the record for being the first (and only) legally deaf player to play professional hockey. In that regard, he is indeed an inspiration.

Saving the best for last. A career long minus player, Ciccone was drafted by Minnesota in the 5th round in 1990. He never played a full season anywhere. 374 NHL games amassed with 28 points. One stat he was a leader in was penalty minutes. Over his career he punched up a total of 1,469. Not bad for an Italian Canadian.